wirkt. social innovation

Name

wirkt. social innovation

Legal name

wirkt. social innovation GmbH (gemeinnützig)

Website

https://wirkt.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Innovation Services

NAICS

Civic and Social Organizations (813410), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Social Advocacy Organizations (81331)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Access & EdTech for Equity (Low-cost Learning, Skills Platforms) (BPAGALAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Health Access & Social Care Innovations (Community Health, Telehealth for Underserved) (BPAGALAG), Impact Investment & Social Finance Programs (BPADAOAJ), Social Entrepreneurship & Impact Business (EDAMAHAK)

Keywords

• Social innovation services
• Venture studio model
• Impact venture creation
• Participatory innovation consulting
• Social impact programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Wiener Neustadt

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Market Income: Revenue from market-priced services such as placement commissions (MTOP Connect), consulting, and training programs (MTOP Experience, Diversity Breakfasts). Social enterprises generate market income through delivery of social services.
2. Philanthropic Funding: Funding from foundations such as MEGA Bildungsstiftung, Sinnbildungsstiftung, Hil-Foundation, and other donors that support social innovation and Impact Venture development.
3. Government Grants: State funding for social services and innovation programs, including FFG grants (Wirksam Werden 2024), public contracts for process facilitation (Fonds Soziales Wien), and other public sector grants. Pilot funding of up to 400,000 EUR for FSW Innovationswerkstatt.
4. Pay-What-You-Can (Learning Circle): Learning Circle uses a solidarity pricing model where families pay what they can afford, enabling access for socio-economically disadvantaged children regardless of financial situation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

wirkt. social innovation GmbH is a non-profit Venture Studio that develops and scales social Impact Ventures in education, inclusion, and sustainability through an Ideation Lab. It operates a portfolio of six Impact Ventures (MTOP, LANA, Culture School, Learning Circle, Teacher Support, RausZeit) and runs commissioned participatory innovation processes for foundations, public institutions, and companies. The organization also facilitates process facilitation contracts such as the FSW-Innovationswerkstatt for the City of Vienna.

Product overview

wirkt. social innovation GmbH is a nonprofit umbrella organization (Dachmarke) for social innovation that operates as a portfolio of Impact Ventures. The company consists of three interconnected service structures: the Venture Studio (providing long-term operational support to ventures), the Ideation Lab (conducting participatory innovation processes to create new ventures), and the Impact Ventures portfolio (currently six social businesses). The Impact Ventures include: MTOP (labor market integration for refugees), Teacher Support (teacher empowerment), Culture School (diversity in education), Learning Circle (digital 1:1 learning support), LANA (women's empowerment network), and RausZeit (family mental health). All ventures focus on equal opportunities and work toward a better tomorrow while maintaining sustainable business models.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Venture Studio: Provides long-term support for all wirkt. Ventures and promotes sustainable knowledge and resource transfer within the umbrella brand
• Ideation Lab
• Social Innovation Studio
• Impact Entrepreneurs in Residence

Products and services

• Venture Studio Internal support structure providing long-term assistance to all wirkt. Impact Ventures, including strategy development, funding support, marketing, accounting, impact measurement, and networking. New Impact Ventures draw from existing resources and expertise within the umbrella brand.
• Ideation Lab Participatory innovation process that creates new social innovations through a 5-step process: Immersing in the Challenge, Involving Stakeholders, Design Thinking, Challenging Ideas Together, and Creating New Impact Ventures. Follows Open Social Innovation approach and Design Thinking methodology.
• MTOP (More Than One Perspective) Job placement and integration program connecting well-educated people with refugee and migration backgrounds with compatible companies in the Austrian labor market. Includes Associate Programme, MTOP Connect placement service, and MTOP Experience diversity training.
• Learning Circle Digital 1:1 learning support providing affordable holistic learning accompaniment for middle school students. Learning Coaches and pupils work together for a semester, 90 minutes weekly via video call, focusing on academic mastery and personal growth. Uses pay-what-you-can pricing model.
• Culture School Educational project that strengthens relationships between teachers, pupils, and parents by redefining cultural diversity as a strength. Offers year-long class accompaniment with joint annual planning, strength-focused workshops, and diversity training.
• LANA Network of strong women from different life situations and cultural backgrounds. Offers space for inclusion, knowledge exchange, and new perspectives through events and activities promoting equal opportunity and diverse society. LANA is Arabic for 'for us' and embodies 'by women for women'.
• Teacher Support Strengthens resources of teachers and school locations through workshops, collegial case consultation, and a resource toolkit to address increasing workload in everyday school life. Developed from the Ideation Lab 2022 process.
• RausZeit Creates spaces for families to disconnect, recharge, and meet anew to strengthen resilience and mental health of children and their caregivers. Launched October 2025 as result of NextGen Mental Health Ideation Lab.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 400 people with refugee/migration background placed in Austrian labor market; 65% within 6 months
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Fonds Soziales Wien (FSW)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2024wirkt. served as process facilitator for the FSW-Innovationswerkstatt, a participatory innovation process in Vienna's homeless assistance sector. The process generated 24 idea briefs and 11 concepts, leading to a pilot project 'Kompetenzzentrum Bildung und Arbeit' with up to 400,000 EUR pilot funding.
• MEGA BildungsstiftungcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead partner for the first Ideation Lab (2022) addressing the question 'How can the teaching profession become the dream job of the future?' Co-funded the innovation process with 60+ participants and 300+ ideas generated, leading to Teacher Support.
• SinnbildungsstiftungcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead partner for Ideation Lab 2022 alongside MEGA Bildungsstiftung, focusing on education innovation and the teaching profession challenge.
• Hobby Lobby (Innovate4Kids)minorStrategic or Co-development Partnerwirkt. served as process facilitator for Innovate4Kids, a participatory innovation process to expand Hobby Lobby's offerings for children and youth from socio-economically disadvantaged families. 5 Austria-wide workshops with 120+ participants generated ~50 solution approaches.
• JKU Linz and Volkshilfe OÖ (UpdateSocial)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUnder the patronage of the state of Upper Austria, wirkt. served as implementation partner for UpdateSocial, an Open Social Innovation process covering climate protection, care, and inclusive society. 200+ participants, 36 teams developed ideas into concepts, with 2 winning Social Impact Award 2023 (INDIMA and Pflegezeit).
• Hil-FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerImpact partner for NextGen Mental Health. Contributed expertise on the mental load of caregivers and the importance of supporting caregivers to enable youth well-being.
• Österreichische Liga für Kinder- und JugendgesundheitminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerImpact partner for NextGen Mental Health. Represented by Lina Kröncke and Caroline Culen. Advocates for mental health with and not just for young people.
• Teacher SupportminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerImpact partner for NextGen Mental Health. Teacher Support strengthens educators' mental health and resilience, representing a natural alignment with youth mental health initiatives.
• Breaking Grounds / Equal GroundsminorStrategic or Co-development Partnerwirkt. serves as process facilitator for Breaking Grounds, developing sport-based solutions to empower young men aged 14-25 as active contributors to gender equality in Austria.
• MitSinnminorStrategic or Co-development Partnerwirkt. is co-initiator and member of the steering board of MitSinn, an initiative to promote social innovation in Austria. 250+ participants, 11 workshops, 80+ recommendations generated for social enterprises.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• MIT Solve: MIT-affiliated platform driving social innovation through open challenges and partnerships — comparable as an ecosystem participant that convenes multi-stakeholder innovation processes akin to wirkt.'s Open Social Innovation approach.

Regional players

• Phineo: German non-profit that analyzes and supports social impact organizations, including impact measurement — a regional DACH peer with adjacent methodology and analytics capabilities relevant to wirkt.'s impact measurement approach.
• Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland (SEND): German network promoting social entrepreneurship and serving as a sector umbrella — directly comparable to wirkt.'s role as a Dachmarke and the broader MitSinn initiative wirkt. co-initiates.
• UnLtd: UK-based foundation supporting social entrepreneurs through grants and incubation — a regional European peer with a similar support-and-fund model for early-stage impact ventures.

Direct peers

• Social Impact Award: European program supporting early-stage social entrepreneurs through incubation and funding, directly comparable to wirkt.'s Ideation Lab and Impact Venture incubation in the DACH region.
• Impact Hub Vienna: Local Vienna-based social innovation hub providing coworking, incubation, and community programs for social entrepreneurs — operates in the same city and addresses the same Austrian social-impact ecosystem as wirkt.
• Ashoka: Global social entrepreneurship support organization that identifies and supports leading social entrepreneurs — comparable to wirkt.'s venture studio model focused on scaling impact ventures and the Impact Entrepreneurs in Residence program.
• Echoing Green: Global fellowship and venture support organization backing emerging social entrepreneurs — comparable to wirkt.'s Impact Entrepreneurs in Residence program and venture studio approach.
• Social Impact GmbH: European social impact organization supporting social entrepreneurs through programs and funding — directly comparable to wirkt.'s venture studio and Ideation Lab model in the broader European impact ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• Skoll Foundation: Large global foundation focused on scaling social entrepreneurs through grants, awards, and ecosystem support — a broader incumbent operating at a much larger scale in the same social-innovation space.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/wirkt.socialinnovation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wirkt

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about wirkt. social innovation